Tomi 'lurppis' Kovanen came out of his "retirement" only a few weeks ago to become the new fifth member of Team Evil Geniuses, he joins the likes of Tyler 'Storm' Wood and Danny 'fRoD' Montaner who enjoyed success in Counter-Strike:Source in the CGS but have yet to convert it to glory in Counter-Strike 1.6.

At the ESL Extreme Masters Global Finals, the U.S. teams struggled against European opposition with fnatic.cArn stating on the radio show, Live on Three, that U.S. teams use outdated tactics. After playing with your new-team mates for a week would you say this is true?

EG.lurppis: Well actually we've only had four days of practice now, but on the subject; not really. Sure they use some different strats but I'd say roughly 80% were very much alike our strats from Crack. We've made some changes for sure and added new strats, but the foundations were not much different to begin with, it's more about execution and teamwork/communication in those clutch situations.

What have you learnt about Team EG's Counter-strike team that you perhaps did not know before?

EG.lurppis: I haven't really learned anything new yet, not anything worth mentioning yet anyways, they're all very dedicated to CS and really cool guys outside of it.

You will attend ESWC Masters of Cheonan with Team EG after not being chosen when with your previous team Crack Clan, is this some kind of consolation?

EG.lurppis: No, we already received our invitation to ESWC Korea with Crack Clan before I tried to get contE kicked out, which then led to the roster changes on that team. In Crack I only wanted to go to Korea so I could visit Tokyo after, knowing we wouldn't do well there anyways. Now I know we have potential, just have to play up to it.

Did you think about the fact that being in Team EG could actually increase your chances of attending international events given there is less competition for spots in the US when compared to Europe, when making your decision to join team EG?

EG.lurppis: No, I've said countless times before that I'm tired of attending events just to place 5-8th (which we've been doing for a couple of years now with roccat/GamePlay/Crack).

I joined EG because I know we have potential to win tournaments. Besides, there aren't many tournaments with qualifiers anymore (WCG I can't play in, ESWC is dead) and maybe two tournaments a year with invitations.

Do you and your team-mates have high hopes for ESWC Masters of Cheonan, or will it simply be treated as a trial of the new line-up? Realistically what do you hope to achieve at the ESWC Cheonan?

EG.lurppis: I'm confident we'll definitely advance from the first group stage, if we can limit our mistakes to a minimum I don't see why we couldn't make top 4.

You are the new captain of the team and you will only have a total of 2-3 weeks to mold the team, what have you been working on most?

EG.lurppis: Actually Tyler (Storm) will still be calling strats for the time being, we talked about it and decided that's the way to go for now because the 1½ weeks of practice before Korea/KODE5 obviously wouldn't be enough to change everything up and get me used to their old strats and everyones playing styles.

As of right now we haven't had too much solid practice yet due to CEVO taking most of our time, but these last days we'll be going through all strats and setups and just making sure everyones knows their job, because we don't have the time to practice enough to be sure of that.

What was the mood in the EG camp when you arrived, are you being welcomed as a saviour by your new team-mates or are you just "one of the guys"?

EG.lurppis: Obviously they've been trying to make me feel comfortable in the team (which I am), but I'm still just one of the guys.

How did you spend the first few days after you recovered from the jet lag, was there a welcoming ceremony or was it straight down to business?

EG.lurppis: I've never actually felt "jet lag" so I didn't have problems with that this time either, I was staying up late to talk to these guys etc on the last 4-5 days before flying over anyways, so after staying up the night and sleeping on the planes my sleeping pattern was pretty much ready to go here. We practiced a little on the first day but nothing too serious, on the second we played the upper bracket of CEVO Playoffs.

Will you remain in the team regardless of results or are there certain goals you must meet? How quickly do team EG expect a return for what they are putting into you?

EG.lurppis: EG and the organization's sponsors (Intel, SteelSeries, Peregrine, and Kingston) have committed to this. We're all considered equal on the team, and we're going to be given time to allow the lineup to mesh and grow. As long as we keep up the practice I'm 100% confident we will do that, and surprise a lot of people :).

You've done a David Beckham and moved abroad to the U.S., is your aim purely to make your team perform well or do you have a bigger aim regarding the U.S. CS scene in general?

EG.lurppis: My goal is to do as well with EG as possible.

Are you concerned that, like David Beckham, your skills could deteriorate by not being able to play regularly against top teams as you did in Europe, given the poor ping from the US?

EG.lurppis: Haven't really thought about it, obviously it would be more ideal to practice against SK, mTw and fnatic on a daily basis but that's just not the reality, and we'll just have to make do with what we've got.

Finally do you think you can become a better player from playing in the U.S.?

EG.lurppis: Definitely, I've been lacking motivation playing for a team that didn't practice so now that I'm finally surrounded by four people with similar dedication and goals I know I'll improve individually as well.

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You can learn more about Team EG and see lurppis' latest blogs on their website

[image from Readmore.de]